Friday, September 17, 2010

Ballot updates: Arizona and Maricopa County

Statewide and legislative:

Withdrawals -

Nothing significant that hasn't already been covered, but it's still nice to visit the Secretary of State's page listing withdrawn candidates and see the name of Republican Steve May and seven of the faux-Greens that he helped to scam their way onto the ballot.

The SOS' page listing all official write-in candidates for statewide and legislative candidates is here.

In addition to those candidates who are completely unopposed on November's ballot, a few others face only opponents from "minor" party candidates (i.e. - Libertarians and Greens):

Republican Rich Crandall, State Senate, LD19 - sole opposition is a Libertarian
Democrats Tom Chabin and Albert Hale, State House, LD2 - one Libertarian is on the ballot
Republicans Tom Forese and J.D. Mesnard, State House, LD21 - one Green is on the ballot

Withdrawn from the race for the Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project (CAWCD) -

Joseph Hobbs

Considered elected due to lack of opposition -

Susan Gerard and Elbert Bicknell, Districts 3 and 4 of the Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System

Ruth Coleman, Jeff Gerber, and Edward Hurley of the Chandler County Island Fire District

Joseph Cantelme, Randy Hancock, and Brian Moore of the Daisy Mountain Fire District

Frank Haas and Dwight Music of the Harquahala Valley Fire District

Fern Ward of the Laveen Fire District

Clarence Hein and Burdena Pasenelli of the Rio Verde Fire District

David Calverley, Wayne Morrow, and Peter Reiss of the Scottsdale County Island Fire District

William Hamel and Jack Meyer of the Sun City West Fire District

Diane Price and Michael Sellers of the Sun Lakes Fire District

Victor Zaharchenko of the Tempe County Island Fire District

No candidates for: Aguila and Wickenburg Volunteer Fire Districts.

In addition, many of the above-listed districts didn't have a sufficient number of candidates to fill out their boards, so there may be write-ins or after-election appointments to fill out the district boards.

In partisan races -

Facing token opposition:

Republican Bill Montgomery faces only a Libertarian in his race to serve out the last two years of failed AG candidate Andrew Thomas' unexpired term as Maricopa County Attorney

Republican Mark Anderson faces only a Libertarian in his race for West Mesa Justice of the Peace

5 comments:

In a world where "only" Republicans and Democrats are considered "real" candidates then Republicans and Democrats will likely be the "only" candidates elected.

And yet somehow it was so very important to sue faux-Green Party candidates off the ballot. Are Green Party candidates also token opposition?

If I was a non-Republican I would think that Michael Kielsky's campaign would be one worthy of support. I would think Kielsky would be preferable to Bill Montgomery on a number of issues even if only the topic of very unlikely to be giving Joe Arpaio a pass on every abuse he and his staff engage in.

Can Michael Kielsky be elected? Yes he can! But only if people take off their glasses that only see 1 choice when 2 are offered.

This post wasn't intended as disrespect to Libertarians or Greens or Independent candidates or whoever. It's just basic math. There aren't enough of them to make a real dent in most races.

The issue with the faux-Greens is just that - they were fake (faux). You haven't heard me cry "foul" regarding the candidacies of legitimate Greens, just the ones that prior to their write-in candidacies either weren't registered to vote or were registered as Republicans.

Outright fraud, whether it's on the part of the Rs or the Ds or whoever is never acceptable.

As for Michael Kielsky, he's got my vote, if only as the "least bad" candidate in the race. And yes, I call him "least bad" because a fundamental part, the anti-government part, of Libertarian political philosophy bars them from being effective government officials and public servants.

A political campaign is nothing more than an extended job interview, and a job seeker doesn't get the job by declaring that if hired, he'll refuse to do the job.

The candidates are half the equation and the voters are the other half. As far as voters who are registered Green or Libertarian or Republican or Democratic they are all probably the least influencial. Registered Independents (or none of the above) are, in my opinion, the people that are more influential than all the rest in terms of who wins or looses any given election.

In Arizona 30% of registered voters choose not to affiliate with any of the four official parties and those voters make a difference.

As for Michael Kielsky, you might want to research him apart from any conception you have about other Libertarians. My position is that while there is a recognized government we all should consider the declared purpose of government and judge those officials in government by that standard. Democrats, Republicans and even Libertarians agree that abuse of government power should be countered. I believe Michael Kielsky shares this belief.

Just as all Democrats don't advocate for 100% government tomorrow there are plenty of Libertarians who aren't advocating 0% government tomorrow.

About Me

My name is Craig. I have lived in AZ for 18 years or so.
Transplant from MA.
Waiting...hoping for more to move here so the Dems can retake the Lege.
Currently reading Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty..
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